Christians are not the only ones who experience changed lives. Other religious adherents have testimonials as well. Mormons, Hindus, and Muslims, for example, also tell stories of how devotion to their faith has changed them. Does that mean Mormonism, Hinduism, and Islam are also true religions?
Greg Koukl was recently a guest on the Diary of a CEO (DOAC) podcast, discussing the meaning of life with host Steven Bartlett, rising atheist star Alex O’Connor, and psychiatrist Alok Kanojia (Dr. K). During the episode, the panelists debated the question of whether a changed life is evidence for the truth of a religion. The three panelists opposite Koukl pointed to the changed lives of people from different religious systems as evidence that a changed life does not count as evidence towards the truth of that system.
Koukl, on the other hand, claimed that a changed life is evidence, although he clarified that it’s not a knock-down proof that the religion is true. I’m sure most Christians would agree. After all, sometimes people who convert to Mormonism experience a changed life. Sometimes people who convert to Islam also experience a changed life. Yet we don’t believe those religions to be true.
While I agree with Koukl’s assessment, what was left out of the DOAC conversation was a more relevant question: Towards what standard is the belief system changing people’s lives? In other words, what kind of change is occurring? Is it good change or bad change? You can’t answer that question until you evaluate the veracity of the standard. After all, not all change is good. A changed life presupposes some standard by which you measure the change. Determining what that standard is and whether it’s a true standard is the more pressing question.
Take a person who adopts Hinduism, for example. What might their changed life look like? The Hindu worldview includes the belief in samsara, a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. A Hindu would believe in karma—i.e., how you live affects your future lives. They would also believe in the caste system, which is a social stratification structure that places some people in higher castes, others in lower ones, and even considers some untouchable. As a result, a consistent Hindu would ignore a lower caste person’s plight. They wouldn’t seek to help that person for fear they would undermine the principles of karma and samsara and violate the caste system.
What about a person who becomes a Muslim? They, too, would experience a changed life, but it would entail changes towards the Islamic worldview. Islam teaches that Mohammed perfectly embodied how a Muslim should live. Therefore, it’s the duty of each Muslim to change their life in accordance with how Mohammed lived. A Muslim who lives consistently with the Islamic worldview, then, would treat women with less respect than is expected in Western society. Deception (taqiyya) would be considered moral if it meant advancing the cause of Islam. Most concerningly, Muslims have a moral obligation to engage in jihad (even if not all of them live consistently with this command).
A changed life is certainly noteworthy, but it’s not necessarily noble. It depends on the standard by which the change is measured. If the change is towards a Hindu or Muslim standard, for example, then that’s not change towards a true standard. The new behavior could be bad behavior.
The more relevant question then is, what is the standard by which we’re evaluating a person’s changed life? Sure, religious adherents of every worldview can claim their lives have changed since adopting their new belief system. Among conflicting religions, though, only one could have the true standard. Therefore, only a changed life towards that religion counts as positive change.
Christians for millennia have reported changed lives. People have been rescued from failed marriages, substance abuse, criminal activity, depression, and a whole host of other examples. What’s notable about these changed lives versus the changed lives of adherents of other religions is that Christians are changing towards the true standard. They’re becoming more like Jesus. He’s the proper and good standard.